Dragons are trophy contenders: Perrett

You could probably zap Canterbury fullback Sam Perrett with a stun gun and he wouldn’t flinch, such is the calm demeanour that’s helped him last almost 12 seasons in the NRL.

But tell him St George-Illawarra will start as underdogs against Canterbury and it almost blows his mind.

Ninth-placed Canterbury host the competition-leading Dragons on Monday night and bookmakers have installed the home side – losers in five of their past six but last-start winners over Canberra – as slight favourites.

“Is that right? Wow. What are they going on, some past record over the years or something?” said a flabbergasted Perrett.

For the record, the Bulldogs had won their past five against the Dragons before getting pummelled 31-6 by them in round six this season.

Perrett said the league’s surprise packets had been going so well that he and his teammates would have to pull out their best performance of the year to upset them.

“They’ve been outstanding. We’re going to have a massive challenge on our hands,” he said.

“Canberra was a big challenge, and we were lucky to get away with that.

“These guys even more so. They’ve been defending really well.

“We’ve got to work our bums off to try and get some points off them and then also, they’ve been scoring a lot.

“We really need to bring one of our best games of the season to get this one.”

The Dragons were in the middle of a seven-game winning streak when they stunned the Bulldogs with an 18-0 first half shutout almost two months ago.

Even after their run was brought to a grinding halt by defending premiers South Sydney in round nine, the Red V have since recorded back-to-back victories, including a 42-6 beatdown of Cronulla last week.

And while the Dragons haven’t visited the finals for the past three years, Perrett this week declared they were definitely premiership contenders.

“The way they’re playing, some of the things they’re doing… I definitely think so,” he said.

“All it can take in a team is a new scenery, or a breath of fresh air of some sort and it can turn around.

“I’ve experienced that in the past in my career with the Roosters – new coaches coming in, new players coming in.

“Benji’s really leading the way there and some of the young forwards… they’re doing it across the park. They’re clicking.”

The Dragons are currently sixth favourite to win the premiership, followed by the Bulldogs.

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